So there I was........

Holding on for dear life, while some alien lifeform was nailing the pace up the road. I am tucked in, as best I can, behind a couple of TIAA/CREF riders. All of a sudden an Audi comes flying up beside us in the oncoming lane and power slides off the road and into the ditch. There was a huge commotion as rocks, shrubbery, sticks and everything goes flying. Apparently this guy was trying to pass us on the left and found that a truck was using his lane for the appropriate purpose which created some conveluded conflict of intrest.

The pack was probably 50 deep and we were rocketing along at 25-27 mph-ish. Now, many people use their blogs to bemoan the relationship between cars and cyclists. I try to avoid this and the confrontations of the messy situations that arise. The situation was so surreal that it didn't even sink in until after we were all past it and well on our way. It was like watching a movie. There I was, chewing on the stem of my bike, riding for all I'm worth, and I just kinda look over to watch this car slide off the road with it's wheels all locked up. Some big truck threads the needle between us and the car and we all go on. My reaction was more "oh, look at that," than anything else.

The other notable thing about this ride was, and I swear this must be true, it gets colder in the morning, right before it finally starts to warm up. I can't prove this yet, but I'm serious. There is a weird cold snap one minute and then all of a sudden it is gone and it is warmer than it has been all morning. The calm before the storm or the deep breath before the plunge kind thing. If anyone knows anything about this, holler at me.

Going Back to Cali

The Amgen Tour of California has turned out to be a fantastic bike race. Many of the top competitors are from the area or at least train there quite often. This has amped up the competition, especially among the Americans competing looking for a win on home soil. The leader's jersey has changed hands three times now, all of whom have been Americans.

Floyd Landis holds the lead going into today's stage. He is followed closely by two more U.S. riders, Dave Zabriske and Bobby Julich, both of Team-CSC. Having both of these athletes to deal with would be challenging enough, but since they are both on the same team, Floyd really has his hands full. If he is exposed too much, team Discovery will certainly take advantage. In the meantime, most of the attacks should come from CSC. Either way, there should be plenty of fireworks in these last few stages.

This is a shot of the podium after the stage 3 time trial. This is also the standings in the general classification (GC). They may be all smiles here for the photo, but I'd guess that Bobby and Dave are really saying "we're gonna git you, sucka." Cycling News seems to have the best coverage on the web and ESPN2 has some coverage on in the weee hours of the morning. Good racing here in the states all the same.

The Race That Wasn't

I've had some nosy friends wanting to know what happened in Phoenix. I'd love to tell you, but I didn't go, so I can't. Actually, a freind of mine, Geri Mewett, won the Pro/1 road race on Sat. I have yet to get the details, but the pic on VeloNews showed a clean set of wheels. This is a nice win for Geri and hopefully a big confidence boost as he prepares for the Commonwealth Games.

I wish that I had some juicy story about how I was detained due to mistaken identity or something romantic yet very unfortunate like that. Really, the trip started to fall apart at the seams the week before. In the end the flight was delayed, delayed and delayed again to the point that I was now leaving on Fri, the day of the first stage, instead of Thursday as planned. So, I pulled the plug and decided not to force something that was really not showing any signs of shaping up the way that I wanted.

Instead I stayed in COLD and snowy Colorado. There was much coffee, maybe too much and quite a bit of hanging out inside. I read a couple of books and sat on the couch. My bike and gear went to Phoenix, but that didn't really matter as the weather was too cold to ride anyways.

Old Soldier Rides Again

This here steed has been to a few battles with me. This weekend, she'll ride again. It was bath time today after my ride, so I snapped a quick pic. I'd say she still shines up pretty well for the camera.

I bought this here bike off of a good friend a few years ago while I was living in Knoxville. I was very excited about it at the time. This is my first real race bike. I still ride it almost every day. I actually have a newer race bike, but somehow it just hasn't stepped up into the daily ride category yet. Which is funny because it is an incredible bike and so much fun to ride.

Gearing up for Valley of the Sun stage race this weekend in Phoenix. Stay tuned for more to come.

Ronde van Budweiser

Monday was a rest day for me. The weekend rides build up and take their toll, so it is time for a break come Monday. I ride just enough to get the blood moving, but it is short and easy. Going East actually earns you better views of the mountains. It is one of those can not see the forest for the trees type things. In town you can't see the mountains for the mountains. So a few miles east and the views really open up.

I went out to the interstate and around the Budweiser brewery. The "King of Beers" has a throne up here. Everybody else brews beer out here, why not have some Bud? The brewery is a staple for me. I use it as a landmark to find out where I am and rides meet there during the summer. It is about 20 mins. from the house, so it is a nice warm up to ride out there. This time, however, the Clydesdales were out doing some training of their own. A team was pulling the beer wagon up the road. Those are some BIG animals. Apparently the Budweiser team has strict criteria for selection. These horses have to be between 2000 and 2300 pounds. I had no idea and was taken back by their sheer size. Impressive sight.

Boulder Ride

GIDDYUP Y'ALL!! I went down to Loveland today and met Hugh for a friendly ride down to meet the Boulder group ride. I really wanted to ride down, but I was going to be riding way over my head today, so a headwind home would have put me under the hurt locker. So I show up at Hugh's, and we are chatting a bit, waiting on Lew, sippin' some joe. This is where the friendly part of the ride came to an abrupt and eventually quite painful halt.

We headed out at a wicked pace. It was 23F out and we were excited and neither of us had done much riding during the past week. Anyways, I cranked out the hardest effort of the day during the first 20 minutes. There goes one match and I'm sure to need as many as I can beg borrow or steal, only you can't give these things away you have to earn them. For those who have been hiding under a rock, Boulder is one very hot spot for cycling. Current and former pros live and train here year round. These guys eat people like me up for breakfast, before they've had their coffee and still ask for more muselix. So there I was, in WAY over my head.

We were headed South on US-36 near Lyons exactly an hour from the house, wondering where these guys must be. About the time the question leaves my mouth, a group of 80+ rolls over the hill. We swing around and start drifting to the back. Only this group is so big that we just sort of keep drifting. Finally, I find a slot and slip in. Everything stays pretty calm for a bit. It didn't take long for the fireworks to start. So then it's "Katy bar the door" and everyman for himself. Only there are women on this ride, but trust me, they can hold their own just fine. The attacks seemed relentless. As soon as the pace would chill, someone else would fire it right back up. I made the front group all the way to the base of the climb at Carter Lake, I was pretty excited about that. I was kinda hoping they might sit up just for a minute or two before the climb so that I might recover a bit and have a go with the big guns on the climb. They must have read my mind 'cause the attacks just kept coming.

I actually recovered some on the climb. I don't know how, other than it didn't seem like too much was going to change, and there was supposed to be a regrouping at the top near the north end of the lake and I really needed to catch my breath. So, I'm pretty happy with that effort. I had no idea what I was getting into. I seemed to hang on well enough. There were moments of doubt. My body cried in agony more times than I can count, it recovered though, just in time to have another dig.

The field was very deep and very strong. This made for a great training session. When the pace started creeping towards the redline, you could just dig in and get your work done without having to worry about gaps opening up. I learned so much today. Hugh kinda babysat me. He'd tell me when to move up into the front group and when some climbs were coming up. These learning experiences are invaluable and they make the learning process so much more fun. The strength of the field was fun too. I can only imagine that this ride is pretty similar to an elite level road race, only the race would be much more cutthroat.

New Kits

For those of you who are not with the times, I'm riding for the Pedal Pushers Cycling Team for the '06 season. I'm really excited about the opportunity. It just kind of fell in my lap last fall soon after I showed up in town. So many great people have been introduced to me as a result and I am honored to call them my friends. The title sponsor for the team is Pedal Pushers Cyclery. They are in the Denver area, as is most of the team. I am part of a loose contingent of NorCo guys.

Anyways, I ended up working on the clothing order for the team. This work is not too difficult, more of a logistics bit, keeping things in order and getting the right people in touch with each other. No big deal really. I am happy to feel like I am already making a contribution to the team. So, here is the new design. I'm pretty excited about it. Click on pic to make bigger.


We used Champion Systems for our clothing company. They are a small operation, just getting started in the biz. However, their prices and minimums are perfect. They use a digital printing process, so there is a considerable savings in labor vs. screen printing of the past. This also means that they can give you unlimited colors instead of the usual 3 color standard and charging for more. Charlie Issendorf has been helping us out with this project. He has been very helpful and made this job quite easy for me. Custom clothing has been notoriously difficult to coordinate, not with these guys. The other great part about using Champion, is all of the cool accessories come with such low minimums and such low pricing that you can get all the goods to round out your clothing like jackets, vests, hats and arm/leg warmers. Giddyup!